Broke Meets Broke: A RiverDaryl Story
by randfan07
Summary: So I'm a huge firefly and walkng dead fan and miss both right now so this was my way of coping, the Firefly crew in the Walking Dead world.


There wasn't much noise, deep in the black. No one to hear you, no one to be heard. That might just be why the sound of that moon-brained girls screams of terror were so downright unsettling. Sure, to hear anyone scream and carry on in such a way was enough to harsh anyone's calm, but way out here, surrounded by silence, it was even more eerie

Mal made his way to the med lab where the noises were reverberating down the hall of Serenity, as if Serenity herself were crying out in fear.

He passed Jayne, whose head was sticking out from his room, clearly disturbed.

"Gorramit, Mal," he growled, "Tell the doc ta get his sister under control, some people are tryin' ta sleep."

Mal raised an eyebrow at Jayne's red, sweaty face.

"Sure you just sleepin' in there Jayne? Ain't got some girl aboard I don't know about do ya?"

"No sir," said Jayne, with a lewd smile. "We ain't stopped nowhere with decent tail in weeks…flying solo tonight."

Mal made a look of disgust and held up his hand in an attempt to silence Jayne.

"I do not need to know that,"

"I'd be done by now weren't for her gorram screaming."

Mal rolled his eyes and continued toward the med lab.

"I can handle them too mucking up the works, making the Allia us and all that, but if she keeps this up and keeps interrupting my recreational activities, me and Crazy gunna have a problem."

Mal didn't respond, merely waved a dismissive hand as he retreated from Jayne. It was true, Simon and River Tam had been a thorn in their paw since they had brought them aboard. Two alliance fugitives wasn't something a smuggling ship captained by a former soldier on the side of the resistance who was trying to keep under Alliance radar usually wanted.

But there was something to be said for the two. The older brother Simon had more than earned his keep as many times as he had patched up his crew, it was useful having a doctor aboard for sure. The little sister, River, she was a mite twitchy, given to violent spells of screaming and throwing objects about, she wasn't right in the head, but even she had proven useful from time to time, even if only to keep the place interesting…

But sometimes, they had too much "interesting" on Serenity.

"Doc," he yelled. He stepped inside the med lab, and jerked aside just in time to dodge a piece of medal.

"What part a' the ship was that," he asked.

"I'm sorry…I'm sorry…" said Simon distractedly as he advanced on the young girl curled up on the floor, head bowed, her wild main of black hair blocking her face, and her hands outstretched as if trying to keep the older Tam at bay. "River," he said calmly, holding a syringe in his hands, which River eyed suspiciously.

"I don't want it," she said sternly, holding her head in her hands. "I don't want it…it chokes me…it splinters when you eat them…the bones, they cut my mouth."

"River it's a sedative."

"Noo," she screamed, slapping his hand away again. "Can't sleep, I'm hungry, always hungry, always eating…"

"Do you want something to eat?'

"Won't help," she muttered, her voice despairing as if giving up as she slumped against the wall, her arms limp at her side. "They are always hungry, always eating…chomp…chomp…chomp on bones…they splinter when you eat them, they choke on the way down and I can't breathe…"

She let out a strangled sob and didn't retract as Simon lifted her arm and injected her with a sedative. In a few moments her eyes slid shut and Simon easily picked up his delicate sister and lay her on the bed in the med lab.

"She doin' any better?"

Simon sighed and shrugged slightly as he stroked the alabaster forehead of his sister, brushing the hair from her face.

"She was…I thought she was…but ever since the Jubal Early incident, she has gotten worse," he answered, looking at Mal. "Her mind is just so fragmented, and something…something is eating at her from the inside, and I don't know what it is."

Mal didn't response. He knew it was hard on the good doctor, taking care of your crazy-genius little sister was full time job, and when he wasn't trying to calm her down he was busy trying to finding the right kind of medication that would help or he was just busying worrying about it. He was a good brother, and loyalty…that was a trait that Mal valued above all.

"All right,"' said Mal. "Just see if you can avoid another fit like that in the middle of the night."

"Is it middle of the night? It's hard to tell out here, isn't it?

"Well my whole crew is asleep so I'm guessin its middle of the night. My point is keep it down, I won't promise that Jayne don't got it in his head to throw her overboard if she keeps him up another night."

Simon nodded, but looked distractedly down at his little sister, still gently running a hand over her forehead, trying to soothe the tortured look that marred her beautiful features. There was no sleep, not even in death for the young genius, and all he could do was watcher her, poke her, prod her until he could figure out what the Alliance had done to her, and how he could make it better.

…behind her hooded eyes, gruesome sights filled the younger Tam's head. Bared teeth, ripping flesh, things that were once human clawing over the fallen body of a human. What was this? They were almost like Reaver's, no remorse, no empathy, no humanity, merely men who were no longer men, women that were no longer women, parents who were no longer parents who would as soon rip the flesh from their children then hold them and protect them.

River felt it…they were hungry, with an insatiable, unshakable hunger, that was all they knew, to kill and to eat.

8888888888

Rick Grimes couldn't believe the sight before him. Atlanta with no traffic, no horns, no people lined along the streets. It was like a ghost town, save the occasional walker that crossed his path. He gently nudged his foot into the horse, urging it forward.

The whole town looked as though it had been evacuated. How long had he been out again? How fast did this spread? He didn't see any newspapers about it but he could've just missed that wave, apparently he had neglected his current events while in a coma. The horse stuttered as another walker crossed on the sidewalk, ignoring them. He urged the horse forward when a deafening noise sent his eyes skyward. Spiraling out of the air was an airplane he had never seen, in fact, it almost looked like a spaceship, something straight out of science fiction movies.

"I know I wasn't asleep that long," he muttered and shook his head. He saw the aircraft spiraling downward over the horizon and then a loud crash. Rick looked at the sky still, trying to figure out if that had been completely in his head. But he didn't have time to think of it when he turned a corner and the horse immediately mounted up onto his haunches and let out a whinnying sound of a fear. Rick jerked forward and saw a hoard of walkers facing him.

"Shit," he muttered, maneuvering the horse so it turned around and urged the horse forward as fast as it could go, away from the hoard of walkers.


End file.
